#118

Composition Doll of Shirley Temple in Costume of "The Little Colonel" by Madame Alexander
Live Auction

$3,000
sold
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Description
16" (41 cm.) All composition with socket head, brown sleep eyes, lashes, open mouth with dainty smile, four teeth, impressed chin dimples, blonde mohair wig in soft ringlet curls, jointing at shoulders and hips. The doll is wearing her original batiste dress with red banding, detachable cape of red and white stripes with black velvet collar, undergarments, socks and shoes, and with original black velvet military cap. The doll is unmarked, the costume has the original early cloth label "Trademark Little Colonel Alexander Doll Co". Generally excellent. Although Ideal had the exclusive rights to Shirley Temple composition dolls, Alexander obtained "exclusive permission of her heirs" (referring to Anne Fellows Johnston who had written the original book) to create "the only authentic Little Colonel dolls" according to the Alexander announcement in a 1935 toy trade publication. Despite the legal arguments of the grown-ups, Shirley evidently loved the doll as it was displayed front and center in an early photograph of her doll collection (see Appendix B photograph).